Edgar Martinez trained for every aspect of his career.
As a player, he spent nearly two decades doing daily eye exercises to overcome strabismus, a condition that prevented his eyes from seeing in tandem. Rather than letting that become the excuse that kept him out of baseball, Martinez became arguably the best right-handed hitter of his generation and the prototype for what a designated hitter can be.
As a coach, he was a meticulous planner, often one of the first in the clubhouse daily. Before taking swings during batting practice — more than a decade after his last game — Martinez spent a week taking BP. He wasn't about to be unprepared before putting on a show players and fellow coaches wouldn't forget.
Why should his training and preparation be any different for his first speech as a Hall of Famer?
"I think it's like anything if you want to do it right and do well you have to practice," Martinez said. "In a way it's true, it's like that. You're preparing for some performance, whether it's hitting in a game or a speech."
Martinez will go into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, the first player to spend his entire career with the Seattle Mariners — 18 seasons in all — and find his way into Cooperstown.
His numbers are staggering, yet often overlooked as most of his career was spent tucked away in the Pacific Northwest on a team that until the magical 1995 season got little notice on the national stage.
Martinez hit .312 with 309 home runs in 2,055 career games with the Mariners. His numbers would be even more impressive if he had broken into the majors earlier. Martinez never played more than 100 games in the majors until he was 27.
"Day in and day out, he was prepared," teammate Ken Griffey Jr. said. "Thirty, 40 years ago a DH was an older guy who was on his way out, but a fan favorite, they wanted to keep him around. Now, it's guys who can flat hit and get a chance to go out and play every day.
"And he made that all possible."
Whether it's the pride of joining the fraternity of Puerto Rican players or his affection for the only franchise he's ever been associated with, Martinez is grateful to those who helped along the way.
"A lot of people play a role in my success and just keep it condensed and within 12 minutes. I'm close to having it just right," Martinez said of his induction speech.
———
Tom Davidson was one of those who helped.
"We told him, 'Give us 10 days and let's see what you think of it,'" Davidson recalled.
Nicknamed the "eye guy" by teammates, Davidson and Martinez started working together in the late 1990s. For nearly a decade, Martinez had been doing eye exercises after Dr. Douglas Nikaita had diagnosed the eye condition.
Davidson's technique became another step in the eye training. He developed a system using tennis balls traveling at high rates of speed to help strengthen and train the eye for recognizing pitches.
The training involved watching the tennis balls, which had small numbers written on them, and trying to focus the eyes to read and recognize the numbers as they buzzed by, sometimes as fast as 150 mph.
As Martinez put it, a pitch at 95 mph doesn't look so fast after seeing tennis balls go flying by at 130 mph or more.
"The eyes set the body up to be successful," Davidson said. "That's what Edgar always told me. And the longer you see the ball out of the hand and closest to the bat that you can, gives you all that time to adjust to the ball. That's what this training was all about."
Martinez hit .305 over his final seven seasons after first working with Davidson. He twice led the league in on-base percentage during that span and had a career-high 145 RBIs in 2000 at age 37.
———
Those swings during the back-half of his career may not have been as impressive as what he did one day in Houston just a couple of years ago.
Scott Servais had never crossed paths with Martinez until being hired as Seattle's manager in 2016. Martinez was the hitting coach under the previous regime and remained on staff. Other than knowing Martinez's reputation as a hitter during the era both played, Servais rarely saw it in action.
Until one day in Houston during a session of early batting practice.
"We had another 20 minutes or whatever and I said 'Edgar you want some?'" Servais recalled.
What happened when the man in his mid-50s stepped in?
"He threw somebody's sweaty batting gloves on and grabbed their bat and got in there, and about the third or fourth swing he's peppering them off the wall out there and up on the train tracks," Servais said. "You never forget those types of things."
What Servais may not have known was Martinez had spent time in the batting cage for about a week, watching pitches and taking a few swings. He wasn't about to be unprepared.
"I did have some practice," he said. "It's excitement about it. In a way, a little bit of adrenaline, too. It was fun. It was fun to do it. I'm not ready to do it again."
———
Griffey is the face of Seattle's baseball history, but it's Martinez who is most adored. Spending his entire career with one team, combined with his affable personality, made Martinez into a revered figure in the Pacific Northwest.
Griffey will forever be the first player to wear a Mariners hat into the Hall of Fame and has a statue in front of T-Mobile Park.
But it stands looking toward the intersection of Edgar Martinez Drive and Dave Niehaus Way.
"Edgar is Edgar. He doesn't ask for a lot. He takes pride in everything that he does," Griffey said. "When you ask him to do something, he wants to be the very best he can be."
———
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="벳365개경주">벳365개경주
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="축구배팅노하우">축구배팅노하우
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="오션카지노">오션카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="바카라무료머니">바카라무료머니
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="필리핀카지노">필리핀카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="내국인카지노">내국인카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="릴게임사이트">릴게임사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="스보벳">스보벳
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="사다리홀짝">사다리홀짝
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="사다리양방놀이터">사다리양방놀이터
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="스폐셜경기">스폐셜경기
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="외국인카지노">외국인카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="네임드달팽이분석기">네임드달팽이분석기
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="아시안카지노먹튀">아시안카지노먹튀
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="부산경마">부산경마
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="크로스가능">크로스가능
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="양방하는법">양방하는법
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="해외놀이터">해외놀이터
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="강원도카지노">강원도카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="먹튀레이더">먹튀레이더
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="로얄바카라">로얄바카라
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="해외야구중계사이트">해외야구중계사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="안전공원">안전공원
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="벳365가입">벳365가입
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="인터넷룰렛">인터넷룰렛
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="라이브카지노">라이브카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="카지노하는곳">카지노하는곳
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="로얄카지노">로얄카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="THE카지노총판">THE카지노총판
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="THE바카라">THE바카라
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="세븐럭카지노연봉">세븐럭카지노연봉
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="메가888카지노고객센터">메가888카지노고객센터
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="호텔카지노">호텔카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="해외축구중계">해외축구중계
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="NHL중계">NHL중계
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="오늘EPL중계">오늘EPL중계
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="NBA부상자명단">NBA부상자명단
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="네임드사다리사이트">네임드사다리사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="실시간스코어">실시간스코어
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="프리미어리그토토">프리미어리그토토
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="슈퍼맨카지노총판">슈퍼맨카지노총판
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="삼성카지노">삼성카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="슈퍼맨바카라">슈퍼맨바카라
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="에비앙4U카지노주소">에비앙4U카지노주소
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="에비앙4U카지노추천인">에비앙4U카지노추천인
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="에비앙카지노모바일">에비앙카지노모바일
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="예스카지노꽁머니">예스카지노꽁머니
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="토토해외배당">토토해외배당
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="토토배팅사이트">토토배팅사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="바카라배팅법">바카라배팅법
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="쉴드맨">쉴드맨
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="mgm홀짝사이트">mgm홀짝사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="승오버계산기">승오버계산기
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="바카라게임주소">바카라게임주소
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="토토노하우">토토노하우
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="소셜그래프사이트">소셜그래프사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="그랜드게임">그랜드게임
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="예스카지노">예스카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="온카지노사이트">온카지노사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="다빈치카지노총판">다빈치카지노총판
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="에프원카지노파트너">에프원카지노파트너
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="월드카지노파트너">월드카지노파트너
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="우리계열카지노">우리계열카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="에비앙카지노추천인">에비앙카지노추천인
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="W게임">W게임
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="엠카지노총판">엠카지노총판
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="하이클래스카지노">하이클래스카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="아시아카지노">아시아카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="33카지노사이트">33카지노사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="젠틀맨카지노쿠폰">젠틀맨카지노쿠폰
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="오바마카지노">오바마카지노
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="베가스카지노총판">베가스카지노총판
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="베가스바카라">베가스바카라
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="블랙썬카지노사이트">블랙썬카지노사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="온라인바둑이사이트">온라인바둑이사이트
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="호게임">호게임
a href="https://yes545.com/yescasino/" target="_blank" title="드래곤타이거타이">드래곤타이거타이